Sober October

Not you. Me.

I’m feeling v impressed with myself as I’ve just hit 164 days of being alcohol free AND I went for a mammogram this week, on what I like to call ‘square boob day’ as the gals gets squished until they’re square. I went to Melrose Arch Mammography, the people there are very lovely and even warm up the gel they use so I highly recommend them. October is breast cancer awareness month so think about going to get the girls checked if you haven’t already.

Remember that I said about a year ago that I got my rights back for my first three novels? Well, I finally got around to slapping my third novel ‘Delilah Now Trending’ on Kindle Unlimited. The Lastborn designed the cover for me which I’m very impressed with (With? By? Whatever.) To all those who’ve read Delilah in the past, please go and give it a review on Amazon. You don’t even have to leave a comment, just give it some stars. TIA.

We got to see a lovely one-man show this month called ‘Becoming Benno’ about an actor’s attempts to immigrate to Australia. It was performed by Ben Voss – no relation to us, but the brother of my lovely friend from varsity, Lucy Voss-Price. The show also had input from John Van de Ruit (of Spud fame) and was directed by my cuz, Michael Richard. The show is funny but it’s also very, very poignant. I found it extremely moving, go and see it if it’s on in your town.

We will be going to another show at The Cirk at Cresta Centre this month called ‘Gatsby – A Cirque Extravaganza’ which is on from October 18 to January 31. Tickets are from R180 to R320 and it’s the perfect event for the end of year office party plus if you’re looking for circus training for your offspring, they do it at The Cirk which I think is unbelievably cool. Thank you to Collett Dawson for the invite.

TV wise, we’ve watched some really good LDS (limited drama series). I recommend ‘Landman’ on Showmax which is all about the trials and tribulations of a Landman (Billy Bob Thornton) who has to crisis manage his boss’s oil company. It’s obvs a huge piece of propaganda by the oil dudes and all the women are portrayed as being sex-crazed hoes but it has some good moments. I especially loved the performance by Ali Larter who plays Billy Bob Thornton’s ex-wife.

We’ve also become quite addicted to ‘Task’ also on Showmax with Mark Ruffalo. Made by the people who made ‘Mare of Easttown’, it has the same gritty quality. Ruffalo stars as a Catholic priest turned FBI agent (with his own tragic backstory) who heads the task team that is set up to end a string of violent robberies being perpetrated against the drug dealers in the area. What I love about this series is that I feel so sorry for the robbers that I’m hoping they get away with it! Watch it for yourselves and see what I mean.

On the book front, I loved ‘The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up’ and ‘The Woman Who Met Herself’ by the lovely Laura Pearson. I became friends with Laura on what was then Twitter and followed both her personal struggles (she had breast cancer when she was five months pregnant) and her struggles as a writer until she found her niche and her career just took off. It’s so wonderful to see how she has become this bestselling author and I feel like her compassion and empathy just shine through in her books. I highly recommend them.

On the non-fiction front, alas, but I have got no further with the Jane Austen (although it does put me to sleep if I’m suffering from insomnia) but I did read ‘This Happened to Me’ – a memoir by Kate Price of how she was trafficked as a child. Harrowing – but never gratuitous - and eye-opening about how traffickers operate.

I went to two fabulous book events this month, one was the Book Nook at Alliance Francaise where I go to meet the divine director of courses, Dr. Diane de Thomasson. We did silent reading for an hour and then discussed our books. I took ‘My Year Of Fear and Freedom’ by Marita van der Wyver because I thought the French connection would be appropriate. I’m thoroughly enjoying the book – but haven’t finished it yet – so no spoilers!

The other event I attended was ParkWords which was part of the Parkview Heritage Festival. I was on a lovely panel with Craig Higginson and Hamilton Wende moderated by Michele Magwood and I just want to say a HUGE thank you to the organisers. I know these events don’t happen by magic.

I was also lucky enough to catch up with old friends this month. Firstly, we had dinner with the brother, SIL and a mate from our days in Harare, Sean O’Shea along with his wife, and heard about how he and my brother started the Friday night Youth Group at our church, Our Lady of the Wayside in Mount Pleasant. There was a lot of praying and an equal amount of misbehaving at that youth group so I’m v grateful to them both.

Then I got to see my lovely, lovely friend Michelle Connon-Roodt along with her husband and her gorgeous daughters for dinner at Proud Mary. Shout-out to Proud Mary for their non-alcoholic drink options! My selfie game is v weak at the moment as I forgot to take selfies at all for the first dinner and only remembered once we had left Proud Mary for the second dinner. Eish.

For those asking about the Firstborn, he is still slogging away on the banana farm in Oz and had me in stitches yesterday telling me about his boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef which was as rough as hell. He said he felt a bit wobbly on his pins by the time they got to the spot and he said the guy was looking at him dubiously and asked him if he could swim.

Me *indignantly*: did you tell him you were Vice Swimming Captain at the Ridge?

Him *patiently*: Of course, Mum, that’s exactly what I said.

Apparently, the dude gave him a pool noodle which was all very well when he first got into the water but then he didn’t know what to do with the damn thing and was worried it would just float out to sea when he wanted to dive down to look at the reef. He does make me larf.

Now, I do try to keep things light on this blog but as this is mainly a book blog, I do feel the need to mention that author friend, Zukiswa Wanner was part of the Freedom Flotilla trying to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, where people are being starved and bombed out of existence. The activists have all been arrested and god only knows if they’re going to make it out of it alive.

I applaud her courage as I am far too chickenshit to do what she – and the rest of the team – are doing. Not much we can do from here except try to create awareness of the situation and make a donation to Gift of the Givers. Go to https://giftofthegivers.org/ for more information.

I will be reading the award-winning ‘Bitter Olives’ by Andrew Brown this month to gain a fuller understanding of the situation in Gaza as I truly believe that books have the power to build bridges, tear down prejudice and promote empathy.

To paraphrase Maya Angelou: ‘When we know better, we do better.’ And how can we know better? By reading, of course.

On a brighter note, the white jasmine smells exquisite and the jacarandas are starting to come out. Spring is a time for new beginnings, let it also be a time of peace. Love and strength to you all! xxx

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